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Author Topic: IMS2000 to be discontinued Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 11-11-2019 08:40 PM                        Heard this news this afternoon. New sales will be discontinued effective January 31, 2020 (or when their inventory is exhausted, whichever is sooner); repair services and support will continue through March 31, 2025. The replacement is a version of the IMS3000, but with the audio processing functions disabled in software. So after the end of January, it looks like Dolby will only offer the IMS3000, which will be sold with the onboard audio processor disabled completely. You can buy licenses thereafter that enable the onboard audio processor for 5.1 and 7.1, and another for Atmos. My only worry about this is the cert batteries on the IMS2000. I've never tried to open the seal for one (not least because there is a label on it warning that doing so nukes the warranty) - are they field replaceable, or soldered on to the motherboard? I can't find anything about them in the installation manual. If they are not field replaceable and Dolby won't re-cert them after March 2025 when the battery dies, then the final IMS2000s installed will only have a guaranteed service life of around five years before they are effectively on death row.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 11-11-2019 09:16 PM                     I think the IMS2000 uses the same soldered-in, but rechargeable battery as the IMS1000. That means, no battery swap is necessary, but that rechargeable cell has a limited life as well (spec'd to 10 years I often hear). - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-12-2019 02:38 AM                     Whereas Dolby will still replace a failed cert battery in the CAT745, I have no worries about such things on the IMS2000. It is completely understandable (and predictable) that they would can the IMS2000 once the IMS3000 was available sans processor...the IMS3000 becomes a redundant product that offers nothing over the IMS3000 and costs the same. This also means that for my upcoming sites that will have an Dolby Atmos screen, I can use a single server for both Atmos and 7.1 systems so the end-user doesn't have multiple server types under one-roof to discover their unique quirks or even just that they put things in different places. I just hope that the IMS3000 proves to be as rock-solid as the IMS2000 has.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-12-2019 08:36 AM                     On all GDC servers you replace the cert battery your self. The SR-1000 has a level indicator in the os for it Mark  |  IP: Logged Bruce Cloutier Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Gibsonia, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2016 posted 11-12-2019 09:02 AM                        Just curious... Do they charge for support for the IMS2000? I struggle with handling the Series 3 JNIOR (JNIOR3) now that we are shipping the Series 4 (JNIOR4). We had to stop production of the JNIOR3 a few years back. That wasn't because we had wanted to push the JNIOR4 but because we were forced by the processor going End Of Life and having exhausted broker stock. Hardly any JNOIRs come back for repair so putting an end date on service is kind of a moot point. But ending support for the JNIOR3 is kind of a difficult question around here. I suspect that if we actually charged for support for the JNIOR3 then we would be driven to define an end to it. Our ability to easily support the JNIOR3 is eroding though as we deal with it less and less. What would be gained if we said that we were ending JNIOR3 support? You know, you can get a used JNIOR3 off of eBay and call us for support and we'll help. Add that to the application programming that we only occasionally charge for and it is a good thing we don't have any investors (cranky or otherwise). ;-)  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 11-12-2019 10:35 AM                        For first line support, no. I'm guessing that their business model is that end user support is built into the sale price of the unit. Dolby are, IMHO, definitely one of the better manufacturers out there for providing long-term support for their products. For digital cinema stuff, the online log analyzer is often a big help with fault diagnoses. If you call them or open an online support ticket, they will try to help, even if the product is long out of the official support period. They recently went the extra mile in helping me to diagnose a humming CP65, even though that model has been out of production for at least 25 years. Dolby will also provide one-time repair service and spares sales - they don't have this policy that some of their competitors do, of only providing spares and repair service to units that are covered by an active warranty. With a digital cinema media block, a major risk factor as the equipment ages is the decryption private key certificate. Per DCI security rules, this has to be held in volatile RAM (flash is not allowed), which is maintained by a battery while the unit is powered down. If the battery drains completely and the RAM is erased, the media block (or IMS, if the server and media block are an integrated unit) has to be returned to the manufacturer for recertificating. Again, per DCI security rules, media blocks must be designed such that this cannot be done in the field. So the longevity of the battery, and the ability (or otherwise) to replace it in the field, is a major consideration both in the choice of media block to buy, and the planned maintenance program for it thereafter.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-12-2019 07:17 PM                     quote: Mark Gulbrandsen On all GDC servers you replace the cert battery your self. The SR-1000 has a level indicator in the os for it Mark Did someone ask about GDC in this thread? I just had a couple of CAT745s (where you can also do battery updates, in the field and they too have a near worthless low battery indicator...doesn't tell you anything until it is essentially too late) get a soldered in 10-year battery so they should be good to go until 2029...when the servers and their projectors they are in are probably no longer needing the IMB. But since you insist in bringing in non-sequitur things. Let's see... Dolby announces the end-of-sale on the IMS2000 2-months before its end and then also has FULL support of it for, at least 5-years after end of sale. GDC...gave 6-months notice form the end of sale to end of support on one server and 12-months for the rest (at least as it pertains to the mediablocks...the box servers themselves may still have parts available). Bruce, thus far, Dolby has not charged for tech-support of their products (in or out of warranty) including the DSS, DCP and IMS line. Dolby has charged a nominal fee for software updates for products older than 3-years (and I mean very nominal...I think it is $30 list or so for say System 4.9 and that covers all updates within 4.9.x.x). But that's about it. Dolby's support after the sale has been pretty top notch for me. That said, I think MOST of the DCinema projector and server manufacturers have had pretty top notch tech supports. I get excellent support from GDC, NEC, Barco, Dolby. No lie, I've gotten good/fast to-the-point help from all of them. This doesn't mean I like all of their policies but as far as tech support, they have great people working for them.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 11-12-2019 08:29 PM                     I've been looking at the IMS3000 as a replacement for both our CP850 and Barco Alchemy ICMP in our screening room. Dolby Atmos playback is pretty flaky, although with the latest iterations of patches on both the ICMP and the audio processor it is mostly stable, but still from time to time, only power-cycling all of your equipment seems to help... I somewhat expect Dolby to EOL the CP850 in the next year or so, as soon as the Dolby Atmos expansion in the CP950 becomes available. The hardware in the CP850 starts to get old pretty fast and I expect as soon as their OEM contract on it runs out, so will the production. There are two things that are blocking right now though. The first of it is the relatively high price point of the Atmos license on the IMS3000 and the fact that even though you pay for this license, there are still zero analog output channels and I'm not willing to replace our QSC amps with the Dolby Multichannel Amp. Unfortunately, there is no direct way to get from Atmos Connect to Q-Sys, which would make sense in our case. So, in this case I still need one or two DAC3201s.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-13-2019 06:43 AM                     Marcel, The Atmos license is the same for both the CP850 and the IMS3000. I wonder if there couldn't be an arrangement made between you and Dolby to transfer the license to the IMS3000. Atmos Connect to Q-SYS has been a done-deal for years so I don't know what you are saying. That is, I have an IMS3000 connected directly to a Q-SYS QLAN-A with Atmos Receivers in the QSYS design and everything works as it should. I also have IMS3000 audio fully integrated into the QSYS environment (grab the fader anywhere...in Q-SYS, in the IMS3000, via automation, server...whatever and they track together as well as mute. No need for DAC3201s. Knock on wood, I haven't had any IMS3000 problems but I don't have a statistically relevant number of units in the field, at the moment to make any broad claims.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 11-13-2019 07:22 AM                     I'll ask Dolby what the possibilities are to transfer the license, good point. Also, I shouldn't have listened to our QSC sales rep. Last time (not that long ago) I asked him if Q-Sys was able to connect with Dolby Atmos Connect he told me: They're working on it, but it wasn't entirely there yet... Yet the first Google query already points to the relevant Dolby document. Sorry for being lazy. We're not yet using Q-Sys in our screening room other than some small experiments, but it could get rid of some old-school analog matrix switching once and for all.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 11-13-2019 08:39 AM                        The only problem I've ever had with the IMS3000 is with alternative content, specifically 4K (2160p) HDMI. When the software upgrade came out to enable this around this time last year, we had one Bel-Air Circuit customer who was eager to get 2160p HDMI working ASAP. The bottom line was that we could not get it to accept 2160p from the installation's Lumagen scaler for love nor money nor expletives. Dolby and Lumagen techs both suspected EDID bugs in the other's device, but were never able to pinpoint the glitch. If I hooked his Oppo or his Apple TV box straight into the IMS3000, 2160p worked without any problem; but not if they went through the scaler. The Lumagen either sent no picture at all, downrezzed it to 1080p, or sent an EDID to the source device telling it that it was only capable of 1080p. Obviously this is not going to affect your average multiplex in the slightest, though, unless Screenvision or any of the other theater alternative content streaming services start to use 2160p HDMI. And even if they do, hooking the source device straight into the IMS3000 still seems to work OK.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-13-2019 11:13 AM                     I have had such oddities when using multiple HDMI devices (not with the IMS3000...but in general). The only oddity I've had with the IMS3000's HDMI is that is has incorrectly "guessed" at the color space choosing RGB instead of YCrCb after going through a Crestron DM switcher. I've had projector DVI ports confuse EDID systems, including from QSC's DCIO-H if there is a switcher upstream..despite all of the EDID's asking for 1080p multichannel. HDMI with its nasty HDCP and fallible EDID is an absolute PITA Things that should work on paper...don't and then the manufacturers start finger pointing claiming it works on their bench when they hook things straight up. None of which helps the customer that just wants to watch their video something or other on their high-dollar equipment. As for scalers...I avoid them (or any excess processing) unless absolutely necessary. Barco's ACS-2048 was notorious for mucking up HDCP though it was a decent scaler. I've ended up putting scalers in feedback loops on matrix switchers so they are only in-line if the signal NEEDs it, if not, straight in and then out.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 11-13-2019 06:32 PM                     I've been using the FullHD and now the 4K version of this little tool in case of HDMI EDID and/or HDCP issues and it has saved the day for me on multiple occasions. It can copy EDIDs from known good configurations, it can snif EDIDs and pretend to be one of those. And as a bonus, it also operates as a signal extender.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-14-2019 07:12 AM                     Interesting...definitely worth taking a look.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 11-14-2019 09:09 AM                        Another vote for HD Fury boxes. I have a pricier version, but which has been worth its weight in gold for passing HDMI video and audio between devices when I simply couldn't any other way. The Windows app that comes with it also lets you see what it is doing to the EDIDs, HDMI and HDCP versions coming in and out, so you can actually figure out what the compatibility problem is, too. Maybe they're called "HD Fury" because the make one's fury at having to deal with HDMI problems go away?  |  IP: Logged

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